[Grammar] Tense

[Hiro]

Hello. I am really confused about the tenses.

Here is one example. If I am strict with the rules, it would go like this.

He told the police that he had killed the professor because the bad grades he had given him had prevented him from getting the job he had wanted.


But is this how a native speaker would write?

And If I still love her, I could say,,,,,

I thought I love her..?

Thank you very much.

[konungursvia]

It is fine, although we are becoming more tolerant of loose respect for such rules, and many people would quite naturally avoid the pluperfect entirely, or move back to the preterite after one use of the pluperfect.

[engee30]

Originally Posted by Hiro

And If I still love her, I could say,,,,,

I thought I love her..?

Thank you very much.

You should never use a present tense after the verb form thought. It would be somewhat illogical to do so. The moment you thought something is the moment you did something, in this case loved her (not love her).

[Hiro]

I am confused.

My grammar textbook says that you have to use the present tense in the reported clause if what is stated is still continuing.

Then why is this not correct?

I thought I loved her.

Strict with the above rule,it means that I don't love her anymore.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by Hiro

I am confused.

My grammar textbook says that you have to use the present tense in the reported clause if what is stated is still continuing.

Then why is this not correct?

I thought I loved her.

Strict with the above rule,it means that I don't love her anymore.

I thought I loved her, past. I think I love her, present.

[engee30]

Originally Posted by Hiro

I am confused.

My grammar textbook says that you have to use the present tense in the reported clause if what is stated is still continuing.

Then why is this not correct?

I thought I loved her.

Strict with the above rule,it means that I don't love her anymore.

As long as the verb is different to one of those of thinking, you can use a present tense form:

[he still lives in Japan]
He said that he lived in Japan. [backshifting]
or
He said that he lives in Japan. [non-backshifting]

But when the information in the reported clause is not relevant any more, then you should use a past tense form (the former option applies here only).
When repeating or talking about what one has just said, the latter option is often interchangeable with the following:
He says that he lives in Japan.

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by Hiro

I am confused.

My grammar textbook says that you have to use the present tense in the reported clause if what is stated is still continuing.

If you grammar book says that, it is incorrect. Does it actually say you have to?

[Hiro]

Yes.

So if my textbook is not correct, what rules should I follow?

Counld you tell me a native speaker's way of thinking. and please tell me the rules.

Thank you very much.

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by Hiro

Yes.

So if my textbook is not correct, what rules should I follow?

Counld you tell me a native speaker's way of thinking. and please tell me the rules.

Thank you very much.

You should follow the rules in your grammar book, and check here when you are confused.
I'd be interested in knowing the exact words the book uses in describing this rule.

[Hiro]

Some people argue that habitual things should be included in the exceptional sequence: The man said that he goes to church every Sunday. We reject this use because it ignores the philosophical base for the sequence of tenses. It should read: The man said that he went to church every Sunday. The man may have become an agnostic or have dieds ince he told the reporter that, but the Earth still would be revolving around the sun and triangles still would have three sides. Therein lies the need for different rules for the exceptional and the habitual.


This is what this book said.

So how do you explain this?

The Gallup poll said that more than half of the Americans are pro-choice.

That more than half of Americans are pro-choice will change in the future. But the verb of the reported clause is present tense.